Daughter of Norman
by The High-Fiving Chimp
Summary: After the death of Petalburg's Gym Leader, May is pushed into the role. With her inexperience and fear of Pokemon, she's struggling to cope. With the exception of her mother and Kenny, everyone (even her brother) has lost faith in her. Can they and a certain raven haired trainer help May to prove herself? Advanceshipping!
1. Chapter 1

**I wasn't very satisfied with my first draft of this, I felt that the characters, May especially, were not very well written. But hopefully this edit is better. I didn't change the story but I added some things.**

"Vigoroth is unable to battle! The winner is Mudkip, Nicholai has won the battle!" The referee stuck out his right arm in the Knickerbocker wearing victor.

The battle had happened in the Peralburg City Gym and it had only lasted roughly six minutes, much to the lad's delight but to other's dismay.

"Oh, Arceus…" A geeky looking boy with glasses and navy hair high-fived his face. That was their eight loss in only a month. He snapped an annoyed glare to the brunette, blue eyed Gym Leader who mournfully called back the ape back into its Pokeball.

"Sorry, Vigoroth." She sighed as she put it in her fanny pack "You did well."

"Hell, yes!" Nicholai punched the air, his Mudkip jumping onto his shoulder, chirping with glee. He walked up to the girl, a smug look on his face. She gave a soft moan and took the Badge of Balance out of her pocket. She dropped it into the boy's open palm.

"Well done." She said, trying to sound congratulating "As the Gym Leader of Petalburg, I award you with the Balance Badge." She added, she had said that phrase so many times she could say it in her sleep.

But he didn't thank her, he tossed the thing in the air and caught it.

"Wow, I hope all wins are this easy." He commented before leaving the Gym. The girl sighed and put her face in her hands, she knew what was coming next.

"May, what the hell was that!?" She jumped as she turned to spot her younger brother glaring at her with his arms folded, like a scolding mother.

"What was what?"

"_That_! He took down all three of your Pokemon with a Mudkip- a _Mudkip_ for Arceus's sake!"

May winced "I'm sorry, Max, I didn't know what to-?"

"How could you not know what to do!? I kept telling you to make Vigoroth use Scratch but you wouldn't do it!"

"I was trying to but his Mudkip was too fast!"

"Maybe it's because you're too slow!"

May let out an annoyed shriek and yanked at her two ponytails, why did he have to keep doing this? She knew she was a complete failure at being a Gym Leader.

"If you know more than me, why don't you be the Gym Leader!?" She snapped at him, leaning over him as she was much taller than her 7 year old sibling. Unfortunately, he wasn't fazed.

"I'm too young, you idiot! I don't even have a Pokemon!" He yelled, craning his neck to look at her. May did not know what else she could say. He was right. But he what he lacked in experience he made up for with knowledge. She was so frustrated it was making her feel sick in her stomach.

Before May could say anything else, her mother Caroline poked her head through the main doors.

"Hey, guys." She walked up to them before her face lost its smile "Did the battle go ok?" She asked turning to her daughter, who had started shuffling the ball of her foot on the ground.

"Um, no." She answered reluctantly. Caroline put her hands on her shoulders.

"Aw don't be discouraged, honey, you'll get the hang of it." She said in an attempt at reassurance.

May doubted that. She had only had this job for a month and already things were going terribly. Being afraid of Pokemon did not help as well as knowing nothing about how to battle. She hadn't even started her journey and she was already in the deep end.

"I just came in to say I've just put out dinner. Chicken noodles, May." Caroline chirped. May gave her a weak smile, she was hungry and just the mention of noodles, her favourite food, was enough to make her stomach start rumbling.

"Thanks, mum but I have to tend to the Pokemon…" She said, scratching her stomach. She noticed Max rolling his eyes behind her.

"Ok, it will still be there when you come in." her mum said, trying to sound cheerful. May shrugged and trudged out of the Gym.

A few minutes later, in the greenhouse. May took out the three Pokeballs. Using her arm as a lever, she propelled them as far away from her as possible.

Vigoroth, Slakoth and Slaking all appeared at the far end of the greenhouse. They were used to this treatment. Almost every interaction they had with their new leader was at a distance. They sensed she was afraid of them and didn't understand why, but they found ways to get around it. By being quiet and staying still as May applied –at an arm's length- the stingy elixir on their wounds.

After healing them, May poured their food into three separate bowls. She tried to measure them correctly as Slaking, being much bigger in mass and size than the others, was to get more. She pushed them away from her and paused to watch the three dig in.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." May said towards the uninterested Pokemon, watching them eat had reminded her of her own hunger and she was eager to eat her dinner. She left the Pokemon to dine.

But as she was about to enter the house, she growled under her breath as she realised she had forgotten to clean the gym. Another job she now had.

Ten minutes later, she was in the middle of sweeping the arena. She didn't mind this part of the job but it was everything else she struggled with. Her father made it look so simple and the way Max would describe the role as Gym Leader made the whole thing seem like a breeze.

Max had always had the ambition to take the position of Gym Leader after Norman and was baffled when it was given to May instead. The only reason was because he was 7, too young to train Pokemon and battle. May on the other hand had just turned 10 before Norman's death.

The door suddenly opened behind her, giving her a fright.

"Hey, boss." A familiar voice called, May turned to find Kenny walking over to her.

"Oh, hi, Kenny." May panted, continuing the sweeping.

"I heard you had another battle today, how'd it go?"

"He took down all three of them with just a Mudkip."

Kenny's eyes widened and only made an 'Hm' sound before promptly taking the broom from May's hand.

"I'll take care of this, May." He said before May could retaliate, "You should go and eat."

"I'm fine, Kenny, I can do it." May insisted, "I'm not very hungry." For a second he seemed to buy it but whatever she had convinced him in that second was immediately taken as her stomach suddenly let out a roar and the empty gym amplified it. May clutched it in an attempt to muffle the sound but it didn't work.

"Oh aye, I totally believe you!" Kenny sniggered after recovering from is brief laughing fit. The bridge of May's nose turned red, "Don't worry about it, boss."

"Kenny, I'd rather you didn't call me 'boss'." She hated being called 'boss' by everyone and it made her uncomfortable.

"Well…" He twirled the broom like a windmill "You are my boss, boss." He added with a smirk.

Irritated, May shook her head, "Hm…" She directed her eyes onto her shoes, "But please don't…" She added before looking away from her feet and towards the main doors.

Kenny noticed this.

"Have you been ok since… you know?" He asked her.

"Yeah, kinda…" She answered. She was only being partly truthful. She remembered Norman's funeral well. Max bawled like a small child the whole time, Caroline had sobbed but not to the same degree and May barely shed a tear, she had spent the whole time staring at her feet, trying to stifle her grief. She didn't have a close relationship with her father like Max did. Afterwards, he accused her of being selfish and not caring. That wasn't true, Norman knew May was afraid of Pokemon and didn't like them and that created some distance between them.

"You sure?" The boy asked, knocking May from her daze.

"Oh, yes. What about you?"

"Well, it's different, but I think I'm doing alright. So… how are you coping with being Gym Leader?"

May sighed deeply into her lungs "Not well… I don't understand anything! I'm a joke."

"Don't think about it that way."

"Kenny, the guy I battled today said 'I hope all wins are this easy'. He isn't the first one to say something like that… even Max says that."

"Pfft, they can take a hike." Kenny turned his back on May to sweep. "And don't worry about Max. He'll adjust. He's a robust little guy." She directed her eyes back onto the ground. She remembered Max's face when it was revealed that it was her that was to take the reins. It was an expression of both shock and anger.

In a way, he then made it his job to be May's 'mentor' and teach her how to battle but his method of 'teaching' consisted of sitting at the side during a battle and yelling instructions. But by the time May could figure out what he meant and what she was supposed to do, it would be too late and the trainer she would have been battling would have kicked her ass.

"I wish someone else could take the job… I'm not cut out for it."

"May, if I was given the opportunity to be Gym Leader in your place, I'd take it like that." he snapped his fingers on the word 'that'

"Thanks…" She knew he didn't mean that in a bad way. He was one of her fathers most skilled students after all and would do a better job than she could. But the rules stuck: The role of Gym Leader runs in the family. May would have given the role to Kenny if it wasn't for this rule.

She remembered sitting on her bed in her room, her knees pulled up to her chest as she listened to Caroline and Kenny arguing with the officials about the manner downstairs, but despite their efforts it stuck. She didn't want the role, but they seemed to feel that it was better for the job as Gym Leader to continue through the family.

"I'll take care of the gym, you go in and eat, and I'll see you some time tomorrow." Kenny turned their conversation back to the subject of food.

"Oh, right. Thank you, Kenny." May nodded at him thankfully. The two waved to each other before May left the arena.

May went home and went into the kitchen to see Caroline sitting at the dinner table, reading a magazine about Co-ordinating. She closed it as she saw her daughter finally come back.

"Hello, honey. You took your time." She said with a smile as she went to the cooker to warm up the relatively large pot of noodles.

"I forgot I had to clean the gym and I ran into Kenny." May sat at the dinner table, massaging her aching and rumbling stomach.

"Oh, I see." Caroline said as she stirred the noodles.

"Well, Kenny insisted he would do it so I could come home."

"That was good of him. I'm glad he is still around." Her mum poured the chicken noodles into a bowl and pushed it towards May.

But before May could dive in, Caroline suddenly took the bowl away, much to May's anger.

"MUM!" She snapped, suddenly jumping onto her feet.

"Whoa, easy Arcanine." Caroline laughed, she was used to this behaviour and sometimes found it humorous. May crossed her arms angrily, making her smile more. Caroline, positioned in a way so May could see, she took the ladle and scooped two more ladleful's of noodles into her bowl. She pushed it back towards May. It was now almost overflowing.

The girl couldn't help but give a happy little vocalisation at the prospect of more noodles.

"Thanks, mum." She said, now smiling. Caroline put her hand under May's chin to lift her head a little.

"Try not to push yourself too hard, sweetie. It's still early days. Kenny and I will help you." She said with a smile before sitting back at the dining table to resume reading.

As she ate, May looked up at the magazine that her mother was busy with. She didn't want anything to do with battling but Co-ordinating? That was a totally different story. She had seen contests on the TV and even the Grand Festival. She was quite intrigued by this and, despite her fear of Pokemon, it was something she was wishing to try but after her life had been turned up-side down, that was impossible. She couldn't even leave Petelburg, the population of the city wanted her as Gym Leader and, despite hating it, she couldn't just abandon her post like that. It wasn't in her nature.

The two were quiet for a few moments unitl the silence was broken by a small burp from May after she finished her meal.

"Do you feel better?" Her mum asked peaking over the rim of the magazine.

"Mhm." May huffed, feeling totally stuffed. She leaned back in her chair and rested her hands on her stomach. She frowned as a thought went through her head, "…um, did Max say anything when he was here?" She asked, assuming Max had gone upstairs to his room.

"Max? No, I don't think so, why?"

"It's just that he was saying stuff to me in the gym…"

Caroline shook her head and yanked off May's red bandanna to ruffle her hair.

"I'll talk to him about it, tomorrow. Don't worry about it."

May wanted to tell her about it but she knew that Caroline was also under pressure. Being Norman's widow she had to deal with a lot of publicity. May, herself knew what this felt like. It was only in the last week, the press decided to leave her alone.

May stood up and stretched. She felt so stuffed that she was beginning to feel tired despite it being still early "I think I'll go to bed now."

"Sure, on you go." Caroline gave her daughter a little wave as she trotted upstairs.

In her room, May slipped into her light blue pyjamas and dragged herself into her bed, practically going to sleep immediately.

She sighed heavily, exhausted. All she could hope was that there were no trainers turning up for a battle tomorrow. Three losses in a week was about all she could take.

**So she doesn't want to battle another trainer tomorrow. Guess who's gonna turn up!? **


	2. Chapter 2

May groaned as she rolled onto her back, the sun was peeking through the blinds and into her eyes. She pulled herself into an upright position and scratched the crust which had gathered at the sides of her eyes. She glanced at her watch, noticing the time.

"Great…" she sighed and dragged herself out of bed. She really didn't want to get up. Surely there was somebody downstairs just desperate to kick her ass today. In her tiredness she just puts on deodorant and throw her clothes on, usually she took better care of her appearance but today she just didn't have the energy.

She was practically falling asleep again when she finally came out of her bedroom, well she was until the scent of freshly made pancakes caught her attention. Feeling a sudden spark of energy, she practically slid down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Max was perched on the table, his nose buried into a large book and didn't acknowledge May entering the room. She noticed that Caroline had her back to them both so she decided to have a bit of fun –which was quite rare now- and nicked the glasses off of her smaller brother's face. He yelped and immediately jumped off of the table, he was practically blind without them.

"Hey! Give them back!" He snapped and tried to grab them off of her, but May, still annoyed with him for yesterday held them out of his reach.

"'Good morning' to you, too." May grunted, watching him jump up and down, she couldn't help but smirk with slight amusement. It was only after Caroline gave May a disapproved glare that she finally gave her brother back his glasses. She sat at the table and practically drowned her pancakes with maple syrup.

"You know, May, when people think of a Gym Leader, they don't think about someone stuffing their face like a Gulpin." Max commented behind his book in a smug manner.

"Harmph!?" May tried to snap a comeback at him but failed miserably due to the amount that was in her mouth at that second.

"Max, don't pester your sister like that." Caroline sighed without turning around.

"What!? You didn't say anything when she took my glasses!" Max snapped which caused Caroline to turn around to glare at him.

"You should know better than to snap at me, Maximus." She said, causing Max to wince slightly. He knew he had to watch his tongue when his full name was used. May finished her pancakes and proceeded to lick the left-over syrup which had been sticking to her fingers, becoming oblivious to the heated discussion her brother and mother were having. It seemed that whenever she ate something sweet her senses would slow down. All her focus would go onto what she was eating. 'Oh no, she's food drunk again!' her dad would always say. This would make her laugh and it was one of the few things that May remembered about Norman.

"May, have you fed the Pokemon yet?" Max asked his sister, who was distracted by trying to lick off syrup which had gotten stuck on her nose. She suddenly jumped out of her stupor at this question. She realised it was almost 11 am.

"Oh my Arceus!" May leapt from her chair and went to run out the door, only to collide foreheads with Kenny. She yelped and stumbled back, her vision blurred.

"Ow…" said the two Kennys as they rubbed their foreheads "Thanks for that."

"Oh, Kenny, I'm so sorry I just realised I forgot to feed the Pokemon and I-"

"Hey, don't get your bandana in a knot, I fed them!"

"You did?"

"Yep. Thought I could give you a hand."

"Oh, thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Kenny patted her shoulder, "You've been working really hard lately."

"He has a point." Caroline added in, causing May to turn and look at her "I was thinking that you and I could maybe go into the city centre and go shopping, maybe get some lunch as well."

May's heart gave a little flutter at this prospect, it had been quite a long time since she had been able to do anything like that. But the sensation of happiness suddenly faded, she dropped her head and sighed.

"I would but I have to-"

"You don't have to do _anything_ today, boss." Kenny butted in, wagging his finger. May cocked her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Your mum and I agreed that I'll take care of everything involved with the gym and the Pokemon so you can have a day off!" Kenny answered, giving a little nod to Caroline.

May looked between them. Were they being serious?

"But what if someone-"

"I'll tell them to bugger off and come back tomorrow! Well, in a polite way of course." Kenny said as Caroline gave him a look.

May jumped a little with sudden joy and wrapped her arms around her mum, giving her a fright.

"Oh! Well, first thing's first, I think you should maybe tidy yourself up before we go." She gasped when May finally released her from her grip, surveying her daughter's rather shabby exterior.

"Oh ok!" May scampered upstairs, becoming aware of her appearance. A few moments later she was back down, hair brushed and clothes tidied.

"Bye!" She called to Max and Kenny as she and her mum went out the door. Looking forward to her day off.

(A few hours later)

"Go fish." Kenny picked up a card which was in the pile in front of them "Any twos?"

"Damn… go fish." Max spat as he picked up another card. "Any… kings?"

"Yep." Kenny handed Max his last cards and put his hands up in the air "Yeah, three times!"

"Yeah… yeah…"

The two were sitting in the middle of the gym, they had finished cleaning it and there was nothing much else today. They were bored until Max found a deck of cards in the dining room. They had been playing this for about an hour now.

"Another game?" Max asked, shuffling the cards for a fresh deck.

"Yeah, why not?" Kenny shrugged.

A few minutes later, Max smacked the floor of the arena as he lost another game.

"When will May be back?" He asked as he sorted out the cards to play Blackjack.

"Dunno. She can take her time." Kenny answered as he picked his cards up "The girls been working herself stupid."

"Or maybe she's just stupid."

Kenny frowned as he said this. He looked at his cards and asked Max for another.

"Damn it!" He snapped as his cards became a bust. "Well, I hope she feels better about it all after today, she didn't seem too happy at losing another one today."

"May had never been a good loser though."

Kenny frowned further but shrugged it off. He was busy shuffling the cards.

"Hello!?"

"Gah!" Kenny threw the cards in the air as a sudden voice called out.

He turned to face the door as he noticed a teenaged lad poking his head in the door. He looked to be roughly 13 and sported unruly black hair under a cap. He opened the door further and started to look around. A small yellow mouse like creature hopped from his shoulder. He turned his hazel eyes towards Kenny and immediately started walking towards him.

"Umm, hi." Max said as put the cards back in their pack, he seemed unfazed. It was only when the boy was closer that he actually became interested.

"Wait, your Ash Ketchum!" He yelped, causing the boy to jump.

"Umm, yes I am." He answered. His Pokemon chirped and flicked its ears.

"Yeah! You were in the Silver Conference."

"Oh, yeah that…" He rubbed the back of his neck "Umm, I'm here cause was hoping I could meet the Gym Leader-"

"Umm, she's not here. Deepest apologies, come back tomorrow, good day!" Kenny butted in rapidly, much to Ash's surprise.

"Nah, she'll be back later today, you can meet her then!" Max then said, ignoring Kenny's annoyed gestures as he stood behind Ash.

"Uff, ok you can meet her today but you can't battle her until tomorrow." Kenny said, in an attempt to distract Ash.

"Ok, fair enough." He shrugged.

"No, you can battle her today." Max added, fidgeting with the cards.

"But your friend just said-"

"And I did! So you can meet her today and battle her tomorrow!" Kenny re-enforced.

"Why can't he battle her today?! It won't kill her!" Max leaned forward towards Kenny.

"She's been under enough stress, Max! This is the last thing-"

"Wait, wait!" Ash put his hands up, causing the two boys to turn and face him "If she's been under a lot of stress, I don't wanna add to it. I'll meet her and _she_ can decide if she wants to battle today or tomorrow or whenever! I'm not in a rush."

Max and Kenny glanced at each other.

"Yeah, ok we can do that." They both said, much to Ash's relief.

After the three boys introduced themselves to each other, Ash joined in their game of scabby-queen. Pikachu ran around the arena, exploring every nook and cranny.

"So, Ash, what made you come here out of all the cities?" Kenny asked.

"Well, I was in the Pokemon Centre here after I arrived from Indigo. I asked around to find out what gym would be good to start out with and people were saying here was the best place."

"…why's that?" Kenny asked, not very happy with this information.

"I don't know if this is a bad thing, but they told me that it's the 'easiest gym to beat' and I just assumed that meant it was good place for a guy to start."

"No what those guys must have meant that the reason it's so easy to beat May is cause- MURPH!" Kenny had slapped his hand over Max's mouth to shut him up.

"Ha! Yeah that's what they meant, Ash, don't worry about it." He jumped in to cut Max off. Ash and Pikachu glanced at each other. What was their problem?

Pikachu loped out of the gym to explore the grounds. His ears flicking at every sound. He twitched his head in one direction as he thought he heard two pairs of feet walking on the path. He scurried up a tree to see a girl wearing a red bandanna and a taller woman making their way towards the settlement. They both had shopping bags.

"Thanks a lot for today, mum." May chirped as she almost skipped alongside Caroline. She smiled, it was good to see her happy.

"Well, you deserved it." She said with a smile.

Pikachu, seeing this, decided to introduce himself, but not in the best way. Using the muscles in his little legs, he propelled himself from the branch he was perched on and latched on May's back. The unsuspecting girl let out a shriek and dropped what was in her hands before trying to rip whatever had jumped on her off. Pikachu yelped and jumped off of May, who was practically panicking.

"May, what happened?" Caroline turned around quickly and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Something jumped on me!" May wailed, almost crying from the fright she had been given. The Pikachu squeaked apologetically and scurried back over to May, who yelped and jumped away from him.

"May, it's alright, it's only a Pikachu! I don't think it meant any harm." Caroline rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down "I think it was just saying 'hello'."

"By _jumping_ on me!?"

"Pi…" The mouse type dropped his ears, saying he was sorry.

"See?" Caroline said in an attempt to defuse the situation. May looked at the Pokemon but didn't approach him. She picked up the bags she had dropped and resumed her walk back home. Caroline sighed and started walking after her, Pikachu scurried alongside her, knowing where they were going.

May stopped as she saw the raven haired trainer come out of the gym. Her stomach did a flip as he looked experienced. Caroline took May's bags and went inside the house, leaving May with the trainer.

"Oh, hi." He turned towards her "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." He held out his hand towards May, which she shook.

"Umm, I'm May Maple." She replied before adding "The Gym Leader of this gym." Reluctantly.

Ash's eyes widened. He was quite astounded at this information. She looked quite young to be a Gym Leader, she seemed to be roughly the same as him but- no, she actually looked _younger_ than him. If he didn't know any better he would think she's possibly the youngest Gym Leader in the district, if not the world.

"Really?" he asked to be sure. May nodded, looking away from him. She yelped as a yellow flash ran between her legs and jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

"Oh, yeah, this is Pikachu." Ash introduced the Pokemon, who cooed as it perched like a parrot on his shoulder. May took a step away.

"Yeah, we met." She said in a low voice.

"What's the matter? Did he hurt you?" Ash asked in a confused voice.

"Um… no I don't think he did."

"MAY!" Max's yell made the three jump as he ran up to them "Ash said he wants to have a battle for his badge!" May tensed at this, she didn't want to battle but if she said 'no' it could make her seem weak.

Before she could answer, Ash raised his hands.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" He snapped at Max "I already told you, she doesn't have to!" Max would have had a go at him if Caroline hadn't turned up. She quickly introduced herself to Ash.

After all of that, May turned back towards the boy. "So… I don't have to have a battle with you?"

"Well, I'd like to have one at some point but I'm not in that big a rush."

May blinked, a bit surprised by what he had just said but she knew she could not ask him to wait for her experience to catch up with her rank. She had no idea how long that would take.

"Well, I'm sort of taking the day off from battling, what about tomorrow?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders, a clear indication that he didn't really care "Sure, why not?"

"If you two are going to do that tomorrow, would you like to stay the night, Ash?" Caroline chirped, surprising May.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked.

"Yes, we have a guest room and it is easier rather than walking back to the PC just to come back the next day."

Ash, again, shrugged "Sure. Thanks a lot." He said with a smile. May sighed heavily, she didn't mind him staying over but she could not help but worry about having to go up against him with a battle. The others she had battled before were really just rookies starting on their journeys but he looked as though he had a few years of experience. She wasn't looking forward to it.

(A few hours later)

"So, Ash, what Pokemon are you going to use tomorrow?" Max perked after he finished his dinner. He, Ash, Kenny and Caroline were in the dining room eating their dinner of spaghetti Bolognese. May was absent as she had to prepare the gym for the next day and feed the Pokemon as well as pick out the ones she was going to use the next day.

"Ow!" Ash grunted as the end of the spaghetti strand he was slurping slapped him on the nose, "I'm thinking of using Pikachu, Taillow and Treeko."

"You have a Treeko? That's the Pokemon I want as my starter!"

"How long is it until you go on yours?"

Max pouted "Another 3 years."

"Ah, don't worry about it too much, Max." Kenny jumped in "You can always help May with her Pokemon."

"She needs more than just help with Pokemon-"

"_Max_." Caroline gave him a glare that made him stop in his tracks.

"Speaking of May, she seemed very jumpy around Pikachu. Do you know why?"

Caroline sighed "Oh, yes I'm sorry about that, Ash. It might be hard to believe but May is actually afraid of Pokemon."

"She is? Why?"

"Cause she was attacked by a bunch of Teltacool when she was a kid, actually it's quite a funny story-"

"Thank you, _Max_!" Caroline hissed at the boy, who rolled his eyes.

"Well, if that's the reason I don't blame her." Ash said, trying to defuse the tension. He could not help but find it odd that a Gym Leader, whose career fully revolves around Pokemon, was scared to death of them. Surely that would affect her skills as a trainer- or lack thereof. He hoped he wasn't being mean by thinking this, but she didn't seem like the experienced type.

"When people first meet May she can come across as laid-back and stupid but she really isn't. She can be really persistent if she had to be." Kenny comments "And kinda bull-headed." He added with a bit of a laugh.

"Stubbornness is not a bad trait for a Leader." Ash said. He knew that all too well with the apparent pig-headedness his old travelling companion, Misty would constantly complain about.

"It's the only trait she-"

"Max! _That's enough_!"

Ash jumped at this. Max's rather insulting comments towards May seemed to be common in conversations and Caroline seemed to be becoming more aggravated with them. Taking a wild guess, he figured this had been going on for a while.

An annoyed huff and the sound of the door opening caused them all to turn and see a disgruntled May walk into the hallway. She turned to look at them and, judging by her knitted eyebrows, she was clearly unhappy about something.

"What's up?" Kenny asked the girl.

"…The Pokemon started fighting when I mentioned the battle." May answered in an uncharacteristically deep voice.

"Well, if it was about who was going to be battling I guess it's not a bad thing." Ash said with a shrug. May's eyebrows suddenly sank even lower, which Ash thought was impossible.

"About who was _not_ going to be in it…" May snapped in an even _lower_ voice. Ash guessed keeping his mouth closed for now would be the best idea, judging by everyone's behaviour it seemed that annoying the girl further was not a good idea. Unfortunately Max had to throw a match to the tinder.

"Well, I guess they knew they were going to get their asses whipped so-"

"Oh!" May yelled as she shot her arms up "_No shit_!" She snapped before slamming both fists on the table, making Ash jump, slightly afraid.

Caroline didn't seem fazed by this, after giving Max an angry glare she tapped May's shoulder, which seemed to bring her back to reality.

"Wha?" She looked back towards her mother, her voice suddenly normal. She suddenly looked scared and upset, as if she didn't know what she just did.

"Your meals in the kitchen, May." Caroline said in a plain voice. May turned to look at the others, Kenny and Max didn't seem fazed but Ash looked terrified.

"Umm… ok…" She took a few steps back before walking into the kitchen with her shoulders hunched.

Ash blinked in disbelief "Umm… is that normal?"

Kenny waved his hand as if nothing had happened "Yeah, she does occasionally have an outburst but it's normally over really quickly. It's nothing personal, Ash, she can get a bit tense when there is a battle coming up."

"A _bit_? I felt as though she was gonna kill me!"

Kenny, noticing that Max had left to go to the bathroom leant a little closer to the young trainer.

"She's had a really bad losing streak lately. She hadn't had the role for that long… and I think it's really getting to her."

"I'm not surprised. How old is she?"

"Ten."

"_Ten_!? Ten as in she hasn't gone on her journey!?"

"Sadly, yeah." Ken shifted his eyes a little.

"Alright," Ash put his arm over the back of his chair so he could turn to face the other boy, "But riddle me this: Why is _she_ the Gym Leader? From what I knew, it was a guy called Norman who ran it."

The green haired boy sighed "He did. But he died just over a month ago."

Ash bit his lip, now regretting his question.

"It's ok," Kenny shrugged, as if he could read Ash's mind "And well, because May is the oldest she was made the Leader in his place. Caroline and I tried to argue in her favour, trying to tell them that she was too young but they wouldn't listen." He decided to leave out the words 'inexperienced' and such, sure he seemed like a nice guy but May had been taken advantage of before.

"Well… that's kinda stupid!" Ash said, a bit annoyed now "Don't they know any better?"

"You'd think so… look, Ash, I think it's better if you don't bring this topic up around May, she's a bit… fragile about it." Kenny said in a serious tone, 'fragile' barely covered May's emotions towards the whole thing.

"Oh no, no, no, no I totally respect that. Don't worry I won't."

Kenny gave him a thankful nod just as May re-appeared with her plate. She sat at the other end and began the process of wolfing down the food as if it was going to run away if it wasn't eaten fast enough. Kenny, no stranger to this behaviour didn't seem to care but Ash couldn't help but be a little astounded. He never knew anyone, let alone a female, who ate like that. Well, except for himself.

She must have noticed him staring at her as she hesitates to keep going at one point and even pushes the plate away from her, even though there was still some of her dinner on it.

"You feeling ok?" Ash asked, a little worried.

She mumbled something about not feeling hungry before leaving the dining room in the direction of the living area.

Ash wanted to follow her but she seemed to give off an aura which told him she wanted to be alone.

The reflection of the TV reflected in May's blue eyes. It was some cheesy kids program but she wasn't even paying much attention to it. She was drowned in her thoughts, she really didn't want to fight Ash tomorrow but, despite his persistence, she couldn't hold off a battle from him. It wouldn't be fair on him.

"May?" Her mum's voice cut through her thoughts, she turned to look at her.

"Hm?" She grunted.

"Are you feeling alright? You seem tense."

"…I'm ok…" May mumbled, looking at her feet. Her mum gently stroked her hair.

"I think you'd benefit from an early night. Why don't you go and have a shower and go to bed?" she suggested. That suggestion sounded really attractive to May and she decided to do just that.

After muttering 'night' to everyone she had her shower, which relieved a large segment of stress and replaced it with vague relaxation. But that feeling of ease immediately diminished once she was lying on her back in bed. She started to feel a dull ache in her belly. She spent a number of minutes massaging it and trying to figure out if it was being caused by indigestion, the fact she didn't finish her dinner or fear of looking like a total idiot in front of Ash. She guessed it was all three at once, but why was she so afraid of looking bad in front of Ash? Granted she felt this way about other trainers but she didn't feel it so much that it made her stomach ache.

She sighed as she lied on her back, wide awake. What she wasn't aware of was that across the hall in the guest room, a pair of chocolate coloured eyes were also wide open as if worrying with her.

**Oooh is that a hint of Advancedshipping I see? I should know since I wrote it. And yeah I know I've made Max a little twit but he kinda had to be for this story. Next time: The battle!**

**Ok, I'm gonna say I have NO idea how to write a battle so do bear with me! It might take a while to get out, but it won't be long!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys I am SO SORRY this took so long ;-; exams have been dominating my life for the last month but they are finally over! :D Before you read this I just want to say; I don't think this battle is well written and I don't want a hundred reviews bashing it. I've never written a Pokemon Battle before and I'm sorry if there are inaccuracies. Again, I do NOT want to see any reviews about how the battle is written.**

May didn't want to do it. She really didn't. She had embarrassed herself enough in front of trainers, all less experienced than Ash, and that fact alone made it worse.

Ash noticed that she hadn't said anything over breakfast. She just ate her food without looking at anyone. He guessed it was just nerves, being as young as she was he wasn't surprised. Max was giving her an earful on what she was supposed to do during a battle but she didn't seem to be listening.

An hour later, Ash was standing at the opposite side to May in the Gym. Both Max and Caroline were sitting on the side benches to spectate. Kenny was standing on a platform as he was refereeing the battle.

May barely heard him reciting the rules with the sound of her heartbeat in her ears.

"Pikachu, go!" Ash ordered the yellow mouse.

"Pi!" he yelped as he took his place on the arena. May took a Pokeball and threw it into the arena.

"Slakoth!" The sloth like creature yelled once it was released. A surge of panic suddenly caught May in her chest; she hadn't meant to release Slakoth in the first place!

She quickly took out the Pokeball to call him back in but-

"NO!" Max yelled, making Caroline jump out of her skin.

May, with the fright she got almost threw the thing out of the window.

"Wh-what?"

"You can't switch Pokemon, May! Only challengers can!" He snapped harshly.

"But I wanted to send out Vigoroth not-"

"NO!"

"Ok, I get it!" May huffed, now sweating under her bandana. She was about to order Slaking to use Tackle but Ash beat her to it.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"What?!" Before May could react, the yellow mouse propelled itself into the air, and curled itself into a ball so only its tail was sticking out.

"Pi-ika chuuuuuu!" It yelled as the flash of light soared from the mouse and squarely hit the sloth on its back, causing it to cry in pain.

"Slacking, use Tackle!" May yelled, trying to keep her cool. The Pokemon shook his head and got to its feet, barrelling towards Pikachu for impact.

"Dodge it and use Iron Tail!" Obeying him, Pikachu avoided the charging Pokemon and swung his now glowing tail straight into the square of Slaking's back, making it scream upon contact and collapse onto its front. It was out of May's eyeshot but Kenny then filled her in.

"Slaking is unable to battle! The winner is Pikachu!" He yelled, gesturing his arm towards Ash's direction.

_How did that happen so quickly_? Ash though. That was far too easy. Any other Gym Leader and this would have been seen as a good thing and to his advantage but this is someone younger than him, he couldn't feel that way about her.

For a moment he even considered continuing the battle.

May, after being yelled at by Max, had also been thinking that, but she couldn't it would make her look even weaker and she'd get an even bigger row from her sibling.

"Vigoroth, let's go!" she yelled as she threw another Pokeball which revealed the ape like animal, bigger than Slakoth and whiter in colour.

"Use Scratch!" May yelled, causing the ape to leap into the air, bringing out his talons.

"Pikachu, Tackle!" Ash shouted in retaliation. Pikachu propelled himself into a run, head-butting the unsuspecting Vigoroth in the gut, it roared and swiped the mouse away.

"Flamethrower!" May called. Vigoroth obeyed and fired out the fire which had built up in its mouth, much like an actual flamethrower. The mouse yelped and tried to dodge but was hit with the blast.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled as his Pokemon squealed.

"Good boy, Vigoroth! Now use Scratch again!" May shouted, the Pokemon immediately brought his claws down on the Pikachu, knocking him to the ground, he was about the swipe them against the mouse when-

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. In an eye blink, Pikachu had turned and a flash of yellow light flew from its little body hitting Vigoroth squarely in the chest. As he as in very close range –centimetres from the mouse- it was badly affected. It collapsed onto the ground, sparks flying from its body.

"Vigoroth get up!" May pleaded, not now! Things were just getting better!

"May, he can't! He's been paralysed, you idiot!" Max snapped, making Caroline flick him on the ear.

_Paralysed? What the hell does that mean!?_ May's inner thoughts pounded.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash's call cut through her mind as she saw Pikachu smack the still paralysed Vigoroth under his chin, causing him to fall back, swirly eyed.

"Shit." May hissed through her teeth, this was going so badly. She called the Pokemon back and stuffed the ball into her fanny pack.

Ash saw this, sensing her frustration. But he had to admit, the fight between Vigoroth and Pikachu was quite a big improvement from the one with Slakoth. He actually worried for a second.

"Slaking, go!" May called as she threw the final Pokeball but by now she had lost the ability to keep herself calm and was fidgeting anxiously. Why couldn't she just call the battle off?

_Why can't we just call this off…?_ Ash pounded in his mind, it was obvious that she is clearly not coping well and was struggling. From what he knew, Norman was a very powerful figure who was very deeply respected by trainers and fellow Leaders alike. But May on the other hand couldn't be any more different.

The huge King Kong like Pokemon seemed to have picked up on his trainer's anxiety as it too seemed to be fidgeting, waiting for her command. Ash had usually seen Slaking lying on their side in a lackadaisical manner so this was quite worrying.

Pikachu had recovered from his attack from Vigoroth and was ready for Slaking but May seemed to be in a state of some kind of shock.

Ash took this to his advantage.

"Pikachu! Use Thundershock and then iron tail!" He yelled. The mouse launched himself into the air and thunder flew from its body, hitting the Slaking. It grunted and stumbled back before he realised that he was paralyzed, why wasn't his leader doing anything?

"Piiii- Ca!" The mouse shouted as it swung its tail at the Slacking, getting him in the eyes. The ape yowled and stumbled backwards before the huge Pokemon tipped backwards and fall onto its back. Right where May was standing.

"May look out!" Kenny shouted from the side-lines, May blinked twice and only managed a small "Ah!" before the enormous Pokemon collapsed on top of her.

Caroline gave a shriek and zipped over, trying to lift the still paralyzed ape. Ash, panicking joined her. It took the four of them to lift Slaking, who eventually recovered and was also startled at what had happened. May was out cold, there was a splash of blood on her face which caused Ash to worry that she had a broken nose.

"How are we supposed to wake her up?" Ash spluttered, gently smacking May's cheek in an attempt to arouse her.

"Make Pikachu use Thunderbolt?" Max shrugged, for whatever reason, he didn't seem overly concerned about the situation.

"I want to wake her up, not give her brain damage!" Ash snapped, he picked May up as they took her into the house. He lay her on the sofa as Kenny got a pack of ice and started dabbing her still bleeding nose with it.

"Wow, I've seen May get hurt during battles but I've never seen her actually being knocked out like that." Kenny mumbled as Ash tended to her nose.

"Wait, so she's been hurt before?"

"Yeah, I don't know if the trainers do this on purpose but I have seen May getting quite badly cut up by their Pokemon, she's even been poisoned a few times."

"What?" Ash's jaw dropped, he had been poisoned before so he knew how painful it was. Then a thought went through his head.

"So… did I win the battle?" He asks Kenny but before he could answer, Max butted in.

"Of course you did! She only had Slaking left!" He said as he sat at May's head.

"But the battle didn't actually finish." Ash pointed out.

"Even if it did, you still would have won!"

Ash sighed, Max was right. He would have won, even if the battle continued. He seriously didn't know what to think. In a way he was glad that he had won but he actually felt guilty. It wasn't a fair battle.

"Well, when she wakes up, tell her I don't want the badge." He said as he turned to a confused Kenny and Max.

"But you won!" Max yelped.

"No I didn't! It wasn't fair! She didn't seem to have any idea what she was supposed to do!"

"That's because she doesn't have any idea!" Max rolled his eyes, aggravating Ash even further. He was about to snap at Max before he heard May give a small grunt and her sapphire eyes fluttered a little before they opened up fully.

"Where, what hap- ah!" She whimpered and instinctively cupped her hands around her nose, it was stinging like hell.

"It's alright, May, you just passed out." Kenny handed her a glass of water as she hauled herself into a sitting position.

"I did…?" She muttered, looking around with a glazed expression "Who won?"

"Well-"

"Ash did."

"NO!" Ash growled at the navy haired boy "No-one did!" May was confused, as far as she could remember, Ash was winning. She drops her head and rummages around her fanny pack. She took out a small badge.

"Nah-ah, nope I'm not taking that!" Ash grabbed it from her and put it back in her fanny pack.

"But you-"

"May, it wasn't a fair fight!" He leant closer to her "May, you don't know anything about Pokemon, do you?" He asked sternly. May looked into his glistening hazel eyes, he was serious.

"No, I don't." She sighed unhappily, she just knew Max was itching to throw in an insult.

"And you do not know how to battle?" Ash continued.

"No…"

"No," Ash repeated "…Listen, I wouldn't feel right if I took a badge I won unfairly. If I'm going to win a badge from you or any other Gym Leader, I feel that the fight has to be fair on either side. I'm sure you can do it, but you just don't know how!"

May looked at the ground with a melancholy expression. He was wrong; she'd never live to her father's example. Everyone said the same thing, she was making his name a joke! She didn't deserve to be defended…

"…May, are you alright?" Ash's voice cut through her thoughts. May suddenly became aware of the water forming in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm fine…" May mumbled, "It's just… well, if it were dad-"

"If it were dad the battle would have been so different!" Max chimed in, oblivious to both Ash and Kenny's threatening gestures to shut up "Ash, you should have seen him, undefeated for seven months! I remember everyone saying-"

"SHUT UP!" Ash almost fell onto the coffee table as May sprang to her feet with her shout. She whipped her head around to face the three, Ash could see the anger in her eyes; the anger and grief.

"STOP TALKING ABOUT DAD! STOP SAYING HOW BRILLIANT HE WAS AND HOW PATHETIC I AM! I GET IT! JUST _STOP IT_!" She screamed, causing the three lads to recoil. Ash had to deal with angry girls before, seeing how he had spent years traveling with a certain red haired hot head. May couldn't control her emotions any longer, she covered her face with her hands and ran upstairs. A few seconds later Ash heard a bang.

Kenny sighed and pulled his hair back with his hand "She'll calm down." He said in a tired voice, he had to deal with that quite often but never that extreme. Ash was shell-shocked. This girl was clearly not ready for such a big role. But she didn't seem to have a choice. So, if that was the case, the least he could do was to help.

"Kenny…. How would you feel about me helping May?" He asked the boy next to him some minutes later after the atmosphere had calmed down.

"You mean teach her how to battle?" He asked.

"Well… in a way yes but there are a few other things I need to help her with. It might take a while but I think I can."

Kenny sighed heavily "Well, if you want to, be my guest. But I told you before, she can be stubborn."

Ash smiled a little but it then faltered as he could hear May's muffled sobbing through the ceiling. He was going to help her, and he thinks he knows just how.

**Ok, I'll try and get the next chapter out as fast as possible, I didn't like writing this one and I'm glad it's finally done. I really want to write the next chapter so it will be better than this. I swear!**


	4. Chapter 4

"So, Ash what are you going to teach May first?" Max asked Ash as they fed the Pokemon, who had all recovered from the day before.

"What?" Ash asked the boy with some confusion.

"You know, teach her how to battle! It should be how she can't focus and is too much of a scatterbrain."

Ash gave Max a disapproved look "Max, I'm not teaching May anything!"

"What? But she can't battle!"

"Max, anyone can battle. I mean, don't you remember when Pikachu was against Vigoroth? She was actually doing well. But after Pikachu knocked him out, she seemed to totally shut down, I think she struggles to control her nerves than anything." Ash explained, it wasn't that she didn't know how to battle it was that she was very inexperienced and struggled to control her nerves.

"She can't stand it when things don't go her way. So if she can battle why isn't she good at it?"

"Well, she wasn't given much time to perfect it and was pretty much thrown in the deep end. Think about your dad for example. He would have been training for years before he became Gym Leader. How old was he?"

"Forty."

Yeah, he was forty and he trained since he was ten. May hasn't even begun her journey yet. She's only ten, remember?"

Max shrugged "So? I'm seven and I swear I could still beat her at a battle!"

Ash frowned, that was the third time in this conversation he had insulted May, but he decided that was not worth his time for now; May was his priority.

"Well, if you think that then tell me this: What makes you 'good' at handling Pokemon and May not so good at it?"

"I dunno, maybe she's just rubbish." Ok that's the _fourth _time!

"…Have you ever thought it might be because she is _afraid _of them?"

Max opened his mouth for a second before realising that Ash was right and quickly shut it.

"Exactly. Before I help May improve her skills in battling, I have to show her that Pokemon are nothing to be scared of."

Ash heard the greenhouse door open to see May standing there. Her nose was bandaged and there were shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn't gotten any sleep.

"Morning, May!" Ash called over to her, her tired eyes widen a little.

"I thought you left." She says, cocking her head to one side. She then huffed, realising how rude that sounded "I- sorry…"

"No, it's ok. I just thought I could help you."

"Help me? With what?"

"Well… I found out that you are scared of Pokemon and-"

"MAX!" May snarled at Max's retreating back as he dived behind a tree. Ash glanced at May, guessing she was embarrassed by the story of how she gained her fear.

"Um… what about it?" She asks meekly, directing her eye contact elsewhere and putting her hands behind her back.

"Well, it's hard to be a good Gym Leader if you are afraid of Pokemon and I want to help you with it."

May's muscles tightened. She was confused as to why this lad, who she had only known for two days, would want to help her with something so big such as her near-phobia.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, of course! May, I told you the other day, I'm not in any huge rush!"

May was still reluctant. She had tried to teach herself that she could trust Pokemon but it didn't matter what she did, her opinion couldn't change. If anything it was made worse.

"So, you up for it?" Ash questions the girl, cocking an eyebrow.

May sighed heavily "Ok..."

Ash lead May to a field outside of the city. It was very quiet and peaceful with a small forest behind them. May could see mountains in the back. It was stunning but when she noticed Ash taking out some Pokeballs, her stomach dropped.

"I went to the Pokemon centre yesterday and I got some of my Pokemon from Professor Oak."

"Who's Professor Oak?"

"A good friend of mine back in Pallet Town. He was the one who gave me Pikachu." He explains, looking at the mouse Pokemon rolling contently in the grass. He takes two Pokeballs out.

"I have Snorlax and Totodile with me. They're very friendly so this should help." He says as he throws one of them in the air.

First to come out was the small blue crocodile like creature, who immediately jumped into Ash's arms, pleased to see him.

"Hey, pal." He chuckles before the Pokemon turned to look at May, who had backed away. She was slightly taken aback by its appearance. Something about its long snout and teeth made her worried. Totodile jumped from Ash's shoulder and ran up to her.

"N- No, get away from me!" She squeaks, jumping back a little. The small crocodile tilted his head, a little disappointed.

"May, relax he won't hurt you!" Ash lowered himself onto the grass and petted Totodile on the head. He gave it a small treat which sent him into a small dance of pleasure. May watched this behaviour with interest. She bent down next to Ash and watched him. Ash handed her some of the treats.

"Here, you can feed him if you want." He says. Totodile sees them and immediately runs up to May, who clenched them in her fist in her haste to get away from it. Ash wasn't annoyed at her behaviour.

May extended her arm out towards the Pokemon. But he doesn't seem to realise her nerves as he eagerly goes for the treats. Almost biting May's hand in the process. Ash took Totodile in his arms as May squealed and baked away, clutching her hand.

"Oh Arceus, May are you ok?"

"I-I- I think so…" She took off her glove to make sure. There was a tiny nick on the tip of her index finger which was dribbling a small amount of blood. She ignores it and puts her glove back on, but extends the distance between herself and Ash.

Totodile sighed and looked up at Ash, slightly confused.

"It's ok, pal." Ash assured him as he put him on the ground. He immediately runs to Pikachu to greet him. The two of them soon start to wrestle in the log grass.

Once Totodile was occupied, May walked back over to Ash, still a little shaken.

"Ok… that didn't go very well…" Ash says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck "But that's ok! So… you want to meet Snorlax now?"

"…is it aggressive?"

"Aggressive? Snorlax? Ha, nah he's a pussycat, trust me!" Ash threw the Pokeball to release the huge Pokemon, who yawned and turned to face the two. Ash noticed that May's shoulders had tensed. He high fives his face as he realises he forgot to mention one small detail.

"He's… big isn't he?" May mumbled.

"Yeah but friendly. I promise!"

The large Pokemon put out his hand towards May, who gingerly touched his claw. Ash watched this with a small smile on his face. It had only been a few minutes since May met Snorlax and already they were making progress.

"Hey!"

May and Ash both jumped at Max's voice as he ran through the field to them. May flinched and Snorlax jumped up and ran to Ash's side, knocking May over.

Ash growled when he saw this; so much for making progress.

"Max, what is it?" He asked the boy.

"I was wondering if I could join you! I could help!" Max chirped, oblivious to May's face palm behind Ash after she is able to get up.

"Um… sorry, Max but this is strictly a one-on-one thing." Ash told him firmly. The last thing May needed was to be under pressure of Max's criticisms.

"Oh well, I can just watch! You won't know I'm here!" He sat on the grass with a book, obviously not interested in moving. Ash sighed, as long as Max stayed quiet and didn't bother May he was alright with him being there.

Over the next hour, Ash showed May his more mild-natured Pokemon such as Quilava, Bulbasaur and Beyleef.

May found Quilava and Bulbasaur quite cute and allowed the small green Pokemon to sit on her lap. Even though she was stiff the whole time and didn't touch him. She felt a bit too crowded with all the Pokemon around. Ash sat in front of her.

"So, May, how are you feeling?" He asked the tense girl, who was gripping the grass with her clenched fists.

"Hm? Ok, um- I'm ok…." She muttered, silently pleading him to take Bulbasaur off of her lap.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked.

"I-" May was about to answer him but she was cut off as her stomach grumbled, quite loudly. A light red flush appears on her cheeks she wrapped her arms around it, snapping her field of vision onto her chest.

Ash smiled at her shy behaviour, he couldn't help it. It made her look so cute. Wait why was he thinking that?

"Hungry?" He asked, obviously not needing an answer. May was going to answer but her stomach rumbled again, causing her to pull her knees to her chest. Why was she feeling so embarrassed about that?

"I packed some rice balls in my bag before we left this morning, I'll just get them." Ash stood up and walked off to his bag which was unfortunately being used as a plaything as the Pokemon were tossing it back and forth.

"Oi, guys stop that- Ahh!" He yowled as Totodile pulled his cap over his eyes before scampering past a sniggering Pikachu.

"Oh real mature! What's g- Wah!" He yelped as he was knocked backwards by Quilava jumping on him.

May stifled a giggle as Ash was soon ambushed by the hyper Pokemon. They obviously loved him.

"Why are you laughing?" Max's voice made her jump as she turned to see him watching her closely behind his glasses.

"I wasn't laughing!" May squeaked defensively.

"Yes you were. And why were you blushing?"

"Wait, when did I blush?" She stuttered, why the hell did he want to know?

"When your stomach growled."

"How does that matter to you!?" May snapped, becoming defensive.

"Because that happens all the time –believe me, I know- but you have never blushed about it!"

"Why do you-?"

"Is it because it was in front of Ash?"

May bit her lip at this question as she felt her face turn a shade of magenta. He had a point. But the big question was: _why?_ She had only met him two days ago!

Max smacked his cheeks dramatically "Oh my Arceus, that's why it isn't?"

"No!" May squealed, waving her hands "It isn't it's because it –umnah- interrupted me when I was talking, that's why!"

"Yeah sure…" Max crossed his arms. May put hers on her stomach and looked over towards Ash as he had finally gotten his bag from the feisty creatures, his hair is even more unruly (who thought that was possible?) and had grass stains on his face and hands.

"Right, I got em." He sits back down and hands May two rice balls. He tries to give Max one but he declines.

"Nah, I ate before I came here." Max said as he sat back down on the grass, facing away from May.

May bit into one of her rice balls as she watched Ash eat his and talking to Max. She was still a little confused. Why did she feel so embarrassed? She shakes the thought from her head and continues to eat her rice ball, which had a chicken taste to it. May suddenly giggles when she feels a particularly long piece of grass tickle her arm but stopped when she suddenly realised that it was not grass which had tickled her.

It was a Torchic.

The little orange chicken was gently scratching May's arm with one of its toes. But in a way so that May wasn't started. She was more curious. The Torchic stood back and tilted its head to the right while ruffling its feathers, staring at the girl with its beady eyes. It was an adorable little creature.

May tilted her head to the left, mimicking the chicken's head movement. When the Torchic tilted its head left, May tilted hers right. This went on for a number of minutes. May wasn't actually afraid of this little bird, it looked harmless while Ash's Pokemon and her father's (Despite their good and mellow natures) still _looked_ scary to her.

The Torchic closed the distance between it and May. She then notices that it had grabbed her gloved hand- the one with the rice ball in it- with its beak and was trying to pull it towards it.

"Hey!" May took her hand from the little bird's grip. Torchic looked down before looking back up. Its eyes seemed to have expanded and were shining with tears. May sighs at this behaviour.

"Oh no, don't do that…." She lets out a sigh and rips a small clump of rice away from the ball and puts her hand out to the almost crying Torchic. It dropped the act immediately and began softly pecking the small grains in the girl's palm. The feathers on its chin tickling her skin. May giggled at it, it seemed to be very sweet and just interested in food rather than her. Maybe that was a good thing.

"Max, shush!" Ash hissed, stopping the boy's ramble. He had been watching May the whole time, the boy couldn't help but grin at the sight.

"What's the big deal? She's just feeding a wild Torchic." Max shrugged, annoying Ash.

"Max, this is big! May wouldn't let any other Pokemon near her a few hours ago and now she's got one which is like a centimetre away from her and she's feeding it!" He said in a frustrated voice.

"But feeding a Pokemon won't make her a better Gym Leader!" Max grumbled behind his book, making Ash more annoyed.

"She has to gain her confidence around Pokemon before she can work with them."

"Uff… but this is May, we are talking about! That will take forever!"

Ash gave the boy a sharp glare, he reminded himself to confront Max about his insults towards May but that was for another day.

He walked over to May, who was gently scratching Torchic between its eyes, the orange chicken cooed with pleasure.

"Made a friend?" He asked, smiling.

May nodded at him "Yeah, he wanted me to feed him so I gave him rice." She looked back at the chicken as it hopped onto her lap and sat down. May jumped a little but quickly recovered as she started preening the bird's feathers.

Ash smiled and petted Torchic's head. He chirped and gently nipped Ash on his finger, making him laugh a little bit. May smiled at him, he had quite a nice laugh which meant she had to laugh too. Which made Ash laugh harder, which made May laugh harder.

Max sighed as the two pre-teens descended into hysterics. What was so funny in the first place? He just started laughing. He shook his head and looked at his book again. _I'll never understand May for as long as I live…_ He thought.

After the pair recovered from laughing, Ash stood up and stretched. "You want to head back? I think that's enough today."

"But you've only been out here a few hours!" Max snapped.

"Yeah but I don't want to drag this out for too long, besides the Pokemon in the greenhouse need taken care of. I can help you with that if you want." Ash replied as he turned back towards May, who was still giggling slightly, her cheeks a slight tinge of red.

As they started walking, May felt something tug on her sock as she turned to see the Torchic following her.

"Shoo! Go home!" May said gently, trying to bat the little chicken away from her. The Torchic sniffed and looked at the ground, May could see tears forming in its beady eyes. May picked it up and looked into them.

"You don't have a home?" she asked it, the chicken buried its face into her chest, basically saying 'No'. May hugged it gently.

"Well… you can come with me if you like." She says. The tiny orange bird squealed with joy and clamoured up onto her head. She didn't have a Pokeball with her so she'd put him in one once she was home.

As May walked behind Ash and Max, who were chatting ahead, she couldn't help but smile at the raven-haired trainer. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

**There we go! Chapter four FINALLY! I'm now on my summer holiday so I can get chapter 5 up much quicker.**

**Ps. I'm thinking of writing a one shot of May and Ash in an eating contest because to be honest I really am curious who would win x3 Think that's a good idea?**


	5. Chapter 5

**You probably didn't expect an update this quick, did you? :P Well it is my summer holidays now so I will be updating quicker than before.**

The process of getting May used to Pokemon spanned for over about two weeks and Ash could clearly see this was working. By the fifth day or so, she was comfortable sitting with most of his and he own Pokemon, even Slaking who was much bigger than her. She didn't let him touch her but being able to be that close was still an improvement.

May seemed to be blossoming in her confidence with the creatures, but that was not all he had been noticing. Over time, he had managed to figure out her personality. When they first met she didn't speak much and seemed reluctant to come out of her shell but she had now become much more talkative and optimistic.

But with all that good stuff there were things that worried the boy. She was nice, yes but she also seemed to have a child-like innocence and naivety. These were not negative flaws but Ash couldn't help but worry that it could lead to the girl being taken advantage of and according to Kenny, that had happened before.

Something else seemed to be happening with Ash myself as well as May. He seemed to feel drawn to her and it meant he had begun expressing several behaviours which were told to be unlike him. At meal times, he wouldn't eat as fast or as much as he usually did and before May would come downstairs to meet him every morning, he'd make an attempt to flatten his hair against his head under his cap. But why?

May had been experiencing similar feelings. Such as watching her eating habits for instance and trying not to laugh like a hyena whenever he did something idiotic which was surprisingly often. She often found herself staring into his chocolate like eyes and not being able to remove her gaze.

But they both thought the same thing; all of that didn't mean anything right?

Max on the other hand, was much more forward.

"You like my sister." He said in a matter of fact tone at breakfast one day, causing Ash to almost choke on his Coco-pops.

"Pfft- what?" He spluttered, Pikachu looked up too, his chubby yellow face caked in ketchup.

"You heard me." Max tutted before taking a bite of his toast.

"Of course I like her, she's a friend." Ash comments as he wiped the yellow mouse's face clear of the ketchup.

"No I mean _like_ her!" Max said in reply, emphasising the word 'like'.

Ash furrowed his brow and shrugged.

"It wouldn't work anyway." Max said.

"What wouldn't?"

"You and May?"

"Wait wha- why?" Ash stuttered, thoroughly confused.

"A trainer and a Gym Leader?"

"So? May might be a Gym Leader but she's still a friend. Besides I'm gonna move on in helping her." Ash replied, "I thought of something which could help May during a battle. She won't like it, but it will help her a lot if it goes well."

"If I know anything about May, it's that the two things she hates is feeling hungry and having no access to food."

"Pfft-" Ash sniggered a little "Who does?"

"It's the only way to keep her attention. Bribe her with noodles and she'd do anything."

Ash immediately stopped sniggering and looked over his bowl to glare at Max- one more insult out of him and he was going to get it. That one wasn't even about her skills as a trainer but about May herself.

"Morning!" May's voice chirped as she walked into the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to Ash's desperate to tidy himself, much to Max's amusement. May buttered herself some white toast and sat at the table to eat.

"So, what's up?" She asks between bites "Got more Pokemon lined up?"

"Actually, May, we're going to be doing something a bit different today." Ash said with a smile, black hair falling onto his hazel eyes.

"What would that be?" May asked, choking down a mouthful of toast without chewing it, she didn't really like the sound of this.

"Oh don't worry, it's not going to be bad but… it will be interesting." Ash said as he went out of the front door with his backpack with a still worried May trotting after him and Max behind her.

"So… why are we here?" May asked in confusion, they were standing in the middle of a dusty road after an hour's walk. It was a walkway which seemed deserted today for whatever reason. Max sat on a slope to spectate.

Ash took steps back so he was roughly at the same distance he'd be if they were having a battle in the gym. May instinctively put her hand into her fanny pack, only to remember her Pokeballs were not there. But Ash had Pikachu in battle position. His eyes met Mays and he had a smirk on his tanned face.

May sweat dropped nervously "What the f-?"

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded suddenly. The small mouse leapt into the air and zapped out a lightning bolt from its tail.

"Kyaaaa!" May yowled as she tried jumped out of its path but was too slow so she felt a rush of pain in her left foot, making her yell again.

"Again!" Ash shouted in a harsh tone. The mouse obeyed and May ducked as the next one went flying over her head, barely missing her bandana.

Max watched this with puzzlement. What on earth was this supposed to do?

"Ash, stop!" May cried after a number of minutes. She was close to crying with fear. Why was he being like this all of a sudden?

"No way!" Ash shouted as the thunderbolts kept coming. It was quite a sight to see Pikachu trying to zap May and the girl hopping all over the place to avoid them.

"Come on, is that all you can do!?" Ash shouted with malice as May squealed as she was hit by one in her chest.

"What are you doing?" She squeaked, why was he doing this? Ash didn't listen and kept commanding the same command. Before-

"Iron tail!"

"NO!" May squealed as Pikachu swung its glowing tail at her face, she pulled her back so quickly that his tail barely missed her chin but it also made her fall backwards onto her rear.

"Thunderbolt!"

May leapt up when the space between her legs was hit by the lightening.

"Oh this is _too_ easy!" Ash said in a cocky yell. May was now standing with her muscles watching, just waiting for the next one, despite having no idea why on earth he was doing this.

"Thunderbolt!" He yelled for like the billionth time but this time May was ready. She ducked as soon as Pikachu leapt up, the bolt flying over her head.

_Yes!_ Ash thinks to himself,_ she's getting it!_

"Again!" He shouted, he did a fist pump to himself when he saw May dive to the left, leaving the bolt to hit the ground where she was previously standing. She looked enraged with him but he would face that when it came.

"Some gym leader you are!" He yelled at one point during the 'exercise' which caused May to flash him an outraged glare. Ok maybe now was a good time to stop.

"Ok, time out!" Ash stopped and Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder, looking pleased with himself. He looked at May, whose legs were quivering from exhaustion.

"You can relax now." He said and as if on cue, May dropped to her knees panting. Ash walked up to her and knelt in front of her.

"That was good, May. You did well- wait what are you- OW!" Ash grunted as May's small hand had turned into a fist and had been thrusted into his stomach. May growled and stalked off.

Max walked up to a still groaning Ash.

"I should have expected that…" Ash groaned as he stood up. Max rolled his eyes.

"She's too bad tempered at times."

Ash growled at him as he dusted himself off and went to find May, he swore to Arceus that he'd deal with Max later.

May was sitting on a rock with her head on her knees, she was giving off a vibe which said that she didn't want to speak to anyone but Ash decided to ignore it.

"Um… May are you ok?" He asked, trying to make his voice gentle and watch what he was saying.

"You think I'm useless, don't you…" she says into her knees. Her voice was quiet which confused Ash, he was expecting her to yell at him or something.

"What? No, I don't think that!"

"But you said so…" She said, her head still on her knees before letting out a small sniff. Ash sighed and took one of her hands.

"I don't think you are useless, but other trainers do." He said "And is that what you'd expect them to say?"

May looked up from her knees, bumfuzzled. Ash had to stifle a small laugh. The expression on her face was both funny and cute at the same time. One eyebrow was raised, her head slightly tilted to one side, both eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

"So… it was an _act_?" She asked, to which Ash nodded "But what was with the thunderbolts?"

"Well it was mainly to help your reflexes but also this: people can be really harsh when they want to win. You have to be able to cope with it."

May looked at him before shutting her eyes for a moment, truthfully she was glad it was an act. It would be hard for her to understand if it wasn't. It was good to know that he hadn't changed. He had become such a good friend over the last couple of weeks. But she had begun to see him differently, she would find herself watching out the window, waiting for him to appear around the corner to come meet her and her heart would give a small flutter when he did. Why did she feel like this? Who knows.

"Earth to May!" A voice sliced through her head, she shook her head to find that she still had the same confused expression as before. Did Ash just smile at it?

"Hm, oh I'm ok…" She mumbled.

"Sorry I didn't tell you I was going to be doing that, I would have but you would have been ready for it."

"Why couldn't I be ready to be electrocuted?"

"Well in a battle, you don't know what they're going to do so you have to be on your toes." He smirked. Out of no-where he slapped May on the ear, but not too hard.

"Ow! Sweet Arceus what was that for?!" May snapped, rubbing it.

"Nothing. But I bet you weren't expecting it!" Ash said before laughing.

"You know it's not polite for a gentleman to smack a lady, Ash Ketchum?" May huffed, but was unable to keep herself from smiling with him, still rubbing her ear. Ash smiled.

"You want to head back for lunch?" Ash asked, as if on cue his stomach let out a loud growl. May smirked.

Max walked up to the two and looked between them. _What did he look so suspicious?_ The two thought to themselves.

"That's a good idea, I'm kinda hungry too." May shrugged and, as if also on cue, her own stomach rumbled, louder than Ash's. She puts her hands on her abdomen and laughs nervously.

Max sighed with his arms folded "You two are so alike, I could go deaf around you both when you need to eat."

Ash and May looked at each other "Wha?" they both said stupidly.

"Nothing…" He huffed before he began walking in the direction of the gym. May and Ash shrugged at each other and walked after him.

They were both quiet as they walked down the road. They were next to each other so their shoulders were rubbing but neither of them minded. No-one spoke for about twenty minutes.

Once they were in the city it was May who broke the silence when her stomach grumbled again, but much louder than the last time. Ash jumped as he turned to look at the girl as she put her hand on her stomach.

"Ha um, sorry." She said after giggling nervously. Ash smiled, amused at her shyness. Why did he find it so appealing?

"It's alright, I'm hungry too." Ash commented. He looked around, it would still take them over forty minutes to walk the rest of the way. He didn't know if he or May could last that long.

He noticed a small restaurant to his left of the street.

"Max, you can go on ahead." Ash said, much to the small boy's confusion.

"Huh?"

"I was thinking May and I could eat here. I don't think we'd last without anything." He said, smirking a little as he saw May turn her back on him, clearly trying to quieten her stomach.

"Wait so… hm, never mind. I'll see you guys later." Max shrugged as he walked off further into the city.

"Wait, why do you want to eat here?" May asked him, scratching her head.

"You're hungry, right? And I have money so we can pick something up here." Ash shrugged casually.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, would you rather we wait until we're back at your house?" Ash asked slyly.

"Um, no."

"That's what I thought, come on!"

(Ten minutes later)

Ash watched May with slight amazement. She had gone through three plates of pasta and was on her fourth and wasn't showing any sign of slowing down. The other funny thing was that she didn't look like she had eaten that amount. How all of that could be packed into her stomach without any of it showing was pretty impressive.

She finished what was in her mouth before pausing to look at Ash "So, did you do much travel before coming to Hoenn?" She asked before putting another forkful of pasta in her mouth.

"Well, I've been through Indigo and Johto. I got all my badges there." Ash answered before opening his jacket to reveal them pinned to the inside lining.

"Wow…" May blinked, quite amazed "were they hard to get?"

"Some more than others, sometimes it would take me three attempts to win one."

"Hm…" May looked into her food, Ash noticed her fairly sad expression.

"I take it you've never left the region, huh?"

"Out of the region? Ash, I've never been out of the _city_!" she said, looking down at her feet "I only wanted to be a trainer so I could travel… I didn't want anything to do with the gym or Pokemon in the first place. Now I cant leave." She puts her head in one hand and looked at him. Why were his eyes glistening?

"Hm… you don't like being gym leader, do you?" Ash asked May, leaning over the table.

May sighed and looked at her now empty plate before she shakes her head, answering Ash. "No, I hate it…"

Ash sighed sympathetically, he knew that she didn't like it but he didn't think she_ hated_ it.

He had noticed when they were walking down the street that a lot of younger trainers had turned their heads to look at May with frowns, which made him feel uncomfortable but it must have felt worse for May.

"…No-one thinks I can do this job…" she mumbled, Ash didn't really know what to say as she did have a point.

"You just need time to get used to it, that's all." Ash said, trying to comfort her as she seemed to become more upset.

"Ash, I've been gym leader for a month and I haven't won _one_ battle!" She put her head in her hands sadly. Ash lent over the table and pets her shoulder "Even Max thinks I'm hopeless…"

Ash's eyes widen "Wait, you know about the stuff he says about you?"

May nodded "He must think I'm deaf or something. I mean I heard you two talking about me in the greenhouse when you started helping me. I don't think he knows that it really hurts… But he is right: I'm a disgrace to my dad…" she trails off and puts her hands over her eyes. Ash didn't like the thought of her crying, especially in a restaurant with people watching. He asks for the bill and quickly pays it before the two walked out.

May didn't say anything as they walked along the road. He had been thinking about what she had said about her dad.

"May… I'm sure your dad wouldn't be disappointed with you. If anything, he would be glad that you are trying your best."

"But I'm useless…"

"No!" Ash turned and grabbed May by her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "May, you have to stop thinking that way! Just because people say you are useless doesn't mean you are."

"But-"

"No buts! Your good at your job, but you need some practice, that's all."

May looked into his eyes which were glistening. At what he said, May felt herself well up.

"May?" Ash asked her as he noticed her shoulder's quivering. May couldn't control herself as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and absolutely sobbed into his chest.

"Whoa, are you-?" Ash tried to ask but May wasn't listening. He put his arms around her and patted her back comfortingly. He guessed that this was probably the first time May had heard someone say that to her besides Kenny and her mother. It was probably the first time she had heard a trainer say that.

After a few minutes, she pulled away and rubbed her eyes "I'm sorry, Ash… I just-"

"Hey, its alright." Ash smiled at her, it was good for her to get that out of her system.

May smiled at him "Thank you, Ash." She said.

"No problem." Ash put his arm around her comfortingly as they made the last stretch home.

Kenny was sitting on the steps of the front door as May and Ash came back. As he saw them, he ran up to the duo.

"Hey, Kenny." Ash and May said in sync.

"Hey guys, look there is a trainer inside who wants a battle, I tried to tell him he had to wait but he's being persistant!"

May had tensed next to Ash.

"I-I'll talk to him." May mumbled as she walked towards the front door but before she could open it, it swung open.

A young male about May's age was glaring at her. He had grayish purple hair and his eyes matched. He had a serious expression on his face and his eyes were determined. He had May directly in his sights.

"Do either of you know where the gym leader is?" He said in a mono-toned voice, folding his arms.

"Why?" May and Ash asked in sync "And who are you?"

The boy scoffed "My name's Paul and I wish to battle the gym leader of this gym."

**Yes people we have PAUL! I did my research I found that he had travelled in Hoenn prior to Sinnoh and I thought he would be perfect for this. I'll start writing the next chapter as soon as possible.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, this story is very popular and I don't really get why but you lot seem to like it and that is what is important to writers ^.^ Anyway, this chapter took a while to write and was pretty difficult but I am glad that it is done, btw thank you all for your support.**

May had tensed as soon as that question, giving Ash a frightened and desperate expression, silently pleading him to help. Ash understood why she seemed worried, he didn't look like a beginner like her and he seemed to have a cruel look in his eyes. Ash was going to say something which would make him go away but May had spoken up before he could.

"I am." She says, momentarily unfreezing to speak to him. Ash could see she was trying to look confident and calm but could see through her façade. He could only hope Paul couldn't.

"_You_?" He spits. May involuntarily flinched at his growl. "That can't be right, you're just a girl."

"Well, I am."

Paul huffed through his teeth as if this was the most frustrating thing ever.

"Well, I was told a man called Norman ran this gym."

May flinched again, a bit more violently this time "M-my dad. But he died a month ago and I took over."

Paul folded his arms at her "From what I heard your dad was a great man." He didn't let May answer before continuing "And that you are pathetic."

"Hey!" Ash butted in for the first time "Don't talk to her like that!" He snarled, making a fist.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Paul snarled back. Ash looked daggers at him but stayed quiet.

He turned back to May, whose ankles were shaking "So I have heard around that you are the worst gym leader in the region. And I just felt I had to see this for myself." He surveyed May silently "They're not wrong."

"Who aren't!?" Ash snapped.

"Everyone. Even from that kid inside. He said you haven't won a battle since you became the gym leader!"

May tensed again. Ash could see tears were starting to form in her eyes. He was sympathetic but also enraged. Max was going to get it, but he had to get Paul away from May first.

"Are you going to battle _or not_?" Paul hissed. May stood up, looking him square in the eyes.

"No." She states bluntly.

_Oh Arceus…_ Ash thought as he noticed Paul's expression change.

"What?"

"I said 'no'. Not today at least." She put her hands on her hips, despite her stomach doing backflips with nerves, she tries to seem confident.

Paul huffed and gave May a glare "Fine! I'll be back at some point in the week… A weak gym leader like yourself would need the practise, but even that will not be enough. I look forward to it." He snarls before pushing past Ash and stalking out of view.

When he was safely out of sight, May let out a sob and put her head in her hands. Ash put his arm around her in attempt to comfort the girl. He really wanted to give Paul a piece of his mind.

"I don't feel well…" She mumbled. Ash patted her shoulder as he half accompanied half led May into the house.

Caroline handed May a glass of hot milk before stroking her hair. It was nearing the end of the day and the orange light from the sun was seeping through the blinds and into the kitchen.

"It's ok, honey. He's probably all talk anyway."

"I don't think so… he looked like he wanted to kill me…"

Ash sat next to May and gave her a gentle look "He said he would be back in a few days, I can help you for it."

May gave him a thankful look. Ash turned to see Max come into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. Torchic followed and jumped onto May's lap for a hug. May put her arms around it and pulled it into a cuddle. The little bird cooed and buried its face into her stomach.

"So, what happened about that guy who wanted to battle?" Max asked as he leant over the table to speak to them.

"He's going to come back later, Max." Ash answered the boy. May was staying quiet and sipping her milk.

"Why? May, you haven't battled a challenger in ages!"

"I know but-"

"May, you have to stop acting like this! I mean dad wouldn't back down from-"

"Max, _shut up_!" Kenny snapped as May slammed her head onto the table, crying her eyes out.

Ash smacked the table with his palm before grabbing Max by the arm and pulling him out of the front door.

"Ow! What are you doing?" He yelped.

"This has gone _far enough_!" Ash snapped as they went into the greenhouse and he slammed the door. "What is your problem, Max!?"

"What? All I was saying was that May shouldn't back down from a battle! It kinda makes her a coward."

"She is not a coward, that guy –what's his name, Paul was it? Yeah- looks really experienced! She had every right to be worried!"

"I just don't get why she doesn't just do it! She should be used to losing by now-!"

"MAX!"

"What!?"

"That's the _second _time in the span of seconds that you've insulted May! Actually, now that I think about it you haven't said _one_ positive thing about her since she became the gym leader, have you?!"

Max stuttered "Well- um…"

"That's what I thought. You do realise that May does know about the stuff you say about her, right?"

Max looked down "Sh-she does?"

"She told me! She's under enough pressure from everyone else doubting her abilities as a leader, she doesn't need her own brother to tell her she is useless! It's obvious that you don't believe in her!"

"No- that's not it! I do believe in her!"

"Really!? Because I have never, ever heard you say anything to her which would encourage her! Even when she was upset after losing to me you didn't say anything."

Max didn't say anything as Ash said this, mainly because he was right.

"Max, she's your sister. Why aren't you supporting her?"

He sighed as he sat on the grass. Ash did the same in front of him.

"…Ash, I'm sorry it's just… I wanted it to be me. I wanted to be the gym leader after my dad when I was older and I really studied Pokemon so I could but when he died and May was chosen to be the gym leader, I just… struggled to take it. I don't want to be cruel but she is not the right person for the role and I was just angry about it."

Ash frowned, yes May was not ready for such a big role but that didn't excuse anything.

"Ok, I get that no-one asked for that to happen. But, Max, it's not May's fault."

"I know!"

"Then why are you treating her like that!?" Ash snarled, still angry with him despite his explanation.

Max didn't answer.

"When May and I were battling, I remember you kept yelling at her when she did something wrong. You might think it is helping but if anything it makes her more nervous!"

The boy still didn't answer.

"And another thing: You shouldn't have told Paul about how May struggles at battles! Now she's really scared! She has enough to worry about without your criticism and insults!"

Max winced and looked at his feet. Ash growled under his breath.

"It's not me you should be apologetic to, you know." He said with folded arms.

Max sighed and fixed his glasses, he did look guilty and Ash hoped he felt that way too. It had been going on for too long.

The two went back to the house, it was getting late and Ash was planning to go back to the Pokemon Center but he waited to say good-night to May before he did. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room, still hugging Torchic. Her eyes were red from crying but she seemed to have recovered. Ash sat next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She smiled a little at him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, still a little concerned. May only nodded at him before looking back down at Torchic who was sleeping on her lap.

"It's gonna be ok. I'll come back tomorrow and we can practice battling, ok?"

May nodded again but she didn't smile at him. Ash gave her a small hug before he left.

(The next morning)

"Ow!" Ash snapped as Pikachu jumped on his head. He turns around and finds the mouse staring at him.

"Hungry, pal?" He asked before handing the Pokemon a pack of ketchup. He chirped and started licking it. Ash got changed and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.

As he ate his baked beans, he could hear a group of trainers talking further away. They were sniggering about something. Ash was slightly worried. He knew that people in Petalburg thought May was a joke and he hoped that was not what they were sniggering about. He quickly finished his breakfast before he walked from the Pokemon Center towards the gym.

As Ash walked through the front door, he was immediately confronted by Kenny.

"Ash, where the hell were you!?" He asked desperately, almost shaking Ash by his shoulders.

"Wait- what- what happened!?" Ash backed into the door. He couldn't see May anywhere.

"Paul, that's what happened!"

"PAUL!?" Ash's jaw dropped "B-That can't be right he said he was coming back later in the week!"

"Well, I guess he figured that today counts as 'later in the week'. He fought May early this morning." Kenny said with his arms folded.

"That son of a bitch!" Ash snarled, clenching his fists. What did May do to deserve that?

"Wait, what about May, is she alright?" Ash asked Kenny desperately.

"She's upstairs right now. Ash, it was awful, he knocked all of her Pokemon out in minutes!" Kenny sighed sadly and petted Ash on his broad shoulder, a worried look in his eyes "It's not your fault, mate. You didn't ask for that a-hole to show up."

Ash gripped his hair in frustration "No! I should have been there! I could have stopped him!" Ash's eyes seemed to be blazing with enragement "Where is he?" He spat at Kenny, almost shaking. He seriously wanted to tear him a new one.

"He left a few minutes ago, he probably isn't that far, why do you- Ash?" Kenny blinked in confusion as he stormed from the house, slamming the door behind him. What was he doing?

After a swift trip to the greenhouse, Ash was sprinting down the road. It was a calm and bright morning, a subtle breeze ruffling the oak trees which lined the road in a neat order. This was a raging contrast to the storm brewing in Ash's head.

Finally after a number of minutes, he can see Paul's sillouete in the haze slightly further down the road.

"That son of a bitch…" Ash snarled to himself.

"PAUL!" He roared at the top of his lungs, he wanted to beat the shit out of him but he had to contain himself. The male turned his head towards the shaking Ash.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want, runt?" He spoke gruffly, Ash could see the case containing his badges in his right hand.

"My name's Ash Ketchum and you cannot have that badge!" Ash snarls in malice, walking up to Paul, the muscles in his shoulders shaking.

Paul smirked at him "Why not? I won it." He shut his eyes and a crude smile appeared on his lips "I'm actually impressed. She broke faster than a new-born Ponyta. I was at least expecting a challenge."

Ash was baring his teeth so hard, his jaw began to ache but at the same time the gears in his head were turning at a rapid rate.

He shut his eyes and sighed before he looked at Paul with an amused expression. A small smirk appeared at the corner of his lips.

Paul tilted his head at Ash "What's so funny?" he snaps as Ash started laughing.

"You naïve twit. You're more gullible than I first thought!" Ash laughed, putting a hand over his eyes.

"What? What the hell are you talking about!?" Paul snarled, obviously becoming aggravated.

Ash looked through his fingers at his reaction before he removed his hand from his face and continued to smirk.

"_She's not the gym leader_!" Ash guffawed.

"Wait what?" Paul growled "What the hell are you talking about?"

"_I'm_ the gym leader!" Ash prodded himself in the chest "She's a friend of mine who works at the gym and I was testing you. With the kind of guy you are I expected you to realise that but I guess you are naïve."

Paul whipped out a Pokeball from his belt. Just the reaction Ash wanted.

"If you're the gym leader then I want a battle, right here and now!" He said.

_Bingo_, Ash thought. He wanted to make him pay for what he did to May. The day was still quiet with no one on the pathway, leaving the two lads alone.

"Alright, if you insist…" Ash grinned as he released Vigoroth.

(**A/N I'm not going to write the battle out because one: I'm not good at them and two: I still have to decide what Pokemon Paul has. All I will say is that the battle lasts just over an hour and Ash barely wins**)

Paul's face was pale when he called in his collapsed Pokemon. Ash was panting along with Slaking, who was bruised and sore. But Ash's head was light. This should give May more time. It was now nearing mid-day and the heat of the sun caused Ash to sweat under his cap but he doesn't pay attention to it.

Paul begrudgingly put his badge in Ash's sweaty palm.

"Good job though." Ash says, deciding he should try to act like a good sport even though he still wanted to punch the guy.

"Hmm…" Paul growled "Don't think I'm not going to come back, Ketchum…" he huffed before turning his back and walking away from Ash.

"That never crossed my mind." He smiles at Paul's retreating back. Despite being extremely hot, he broke into a run back towards the gym. He clicked his heels together at one point as he did. After a number of minutes, be slowed to a fast walk. He couldn't stop himself from grinning, yes Paul was gonna come back at some point but Ash would worry about that time comes. He was only thinking about May at this point.

Ash walked into the house to find Max and Kenny sitting at the dinner table.

"Look what I got!" Ash almost sang, flashing the badge at them. Unable to contain his glee.

Kenny looked at him and as soon as he saw the badge he slowly rose from his chair "What the fu…? How did you get that!?" He spluttered while Max's jaw practically hit the floor.

After Ash explained what he did to get the badge back from Paul, both Max and Kenny were smiling along with him.

"Ash, that was genius! But what about when he comes back for a rematch-?"

"Don't worry about that! Where's May? I have to tell her!" Ash immediately charged up the stairs as Kenny directed him to the door of May's room.

"May?" Ash knocked the door with his knuckles. He heard a small "Hm?" behind the door, indicating he could walk in. As he did, he saw the blinds were down and he could just make out May under the bed sheets with it covering her head. There was a desk under the window and there was a bowl of noodles on it, which hadn't been touched and the absence of steam told him that it had been there for a while.

"Hi, May. You alright?" Ash asked, sitting on the edge of her bed. She sighed under the white covers, making it clear that she didn't want to talk. Ash poked her head.

"Ash, please…" She muttered before sitting up, taking the cover from her head. Her hair was dishevelled and her eyes were bloodshot. Ash assumed it was from crying but he didn't want to think about her crying. But she looked completely broken and he was not surprised after what Paul did. Even the sweetness and optimism seemed to have been sucked out of her eyes. He hoped that this would help.

Ash tossed the badge in the air "Oh Ma-_ay_!" He sang "I have something for you!"

"Ash, I just want to be alone…" she said in a small voice, looking away from him.

Ash smirked and grabbed May's chin gently to make her look at him and showed her the badge.

Her blue eyes widened "I-Is that the badge I gave-?"

"Yep!" Ash nodded, grinning at her uncontrollably.

"B-but how did you?"

Ash quickly explained the story to her, the whole time she still had that cute bumfuzzled look on her face.

"But… he won that badge fairly!" She squeaked once he was done.

"No he didn't! We didn't expect him to come so soon and you weren't ready! I don't call that fair."

"So… you did that... for me?"

Ash put his arms around her and stroked her messed up hair "Of course I did! I couldn't stand by and let him do that to you! I care too much!"

May looked up at him "You do?" she gripped onto his blue jacket.

"Yes, of course I do! May, I know a lot of people call you weak or a coward purely because you are not skilled in battle. But May, you are not weak! You have to be one of the strongest people I know, you hate this job but you haven't quit it! You kept trying and pushing on even if you didn't win! That takes a strong person! And all those trainers who say otherwise? Screw them! Screw all of them!" Ash sliced the air with his hand "They don't matter, May. You are trying your hardest and that's what I admire about you. I really, really do."

May listened to what Ash had to say with awe. She never knew he thought that way about her.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Yes!" Ash pulled her into a hug "Why wouldn't I?" May put her head under his chin has he proceeded to stroke her hair. They were like that for a number of minutes in silence with Ash running his fingers through her brunette hair and holding her close to him.

May broke away from him and the two stared at each other. Ash noticed her moving closer to him subtly. He brought his face closer to hers until their lips touched. Ash shut his eyes. His heart giving a flutter and his head becoming blank as they kissed.

"Hey, guys I- augh!" Ash and May's eyes opened as they noticed Max standing at the door, his eyes wide behind his glasses "Uh, bad time to come in?"

Ash and May grinned at each other.

"No, no what is it, Max?" May asked her younger brother sweetly.

"Um, mum wanted me to check on you two and- were you guys smacking lips?"

Ash and May looked at each other.

"Yes?" they both said together.

Max made an immaturely disgusted look "Aw, May that is sick!"

At this, May turned her head to look away from Max and Ash gave him an angry look, warning him. Max noticed and walked up to May. He put his arms around her and pressed his head into his rather confused sister.

"May, I'm really, really sorry." He said quietly, looking at her with his navy eyes which were shining.

"For what?"

"For treating you so badly over the last month. I don't think you're useless like I said. I just got jealous. But that doesn't mean I could do that. Ash is right, you are admirable and I wouldn't ask for anyone else to be my sister!" A glint in his eye met May's. He really meant what he said.

May pulled her younger sibling into a hug but she only mostly forgave him. She didn't want him to know this but he would have to prove it. A 'I'm sorry' didn't seem to be enough but she wasn't going to hold a grudge against him for it. He knew he had been acting stupid.

"Wanna go for a swim, May?" Ash asked "it's a nice day and I don't think anyone else is going to pop up from nowhere." He adds with a smile to which May returned. He helped her up by holding his hand. The two of them walked out the room hand in hand, leaving a pretty confused Max behind.

"Tweens…" he huffs as he follows them outside.

**Wow that was difficult to write. Well, hope you lot like it and I will try to write chapter 7 as quick as possible. I don't think there will be many more chapters as the story wraps up which is a shame cause I love this story and I don't want it to end. Oh well, see you in chapter 7! Don't forget to R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey folks, here is just a short chapter mostly focusing on May and Ash spending time together. I am going to take a break from DoN for a wee bit as I am visiting family in the next few days. In the mean time I will write a one-shot I've been wanting to do but anyhoo, enjoy!**

May had the best afternoon she had had in a while. After spending an hour swimming with Ash, the pair went to a restaurant which had a lunch buffet. The stress from dealing with Paul coupled with not having breakfast had left the girl famished. Ash made sure she had plenty to eat. After that, the pair went to the park where they lied on their backs in the grass, staring at the sky.

Ash turned onto his side to watch May. She was in a light slumber, not to his surprise. Today was a big deal for her. He smiled as he flicked her hair away from her eyes. She mumbled something in her sleep and turned into her side. Ash plucked a small flower which was next to him and proceeded to tickle her nose with it. May let out a small sneeze and batted at her nose, still asleep. Ash smirked and tickled her with it again, getting some pollen dust on her nose.

May shook her head a little as her eyes opened slowly, just for her to explode into a fit of sneezing. What Ash found funny was the fact that the sneezes were not the loud type that people would think of. They were small, quiet and frequent. Ash smiled before taking out a tissue and wiping the dust off of her nose.

"Rise and shine." He smiled at her. May rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Why did you have to wake me up?" She whined sleepily "I'm tired."

"It was too quiet." Ash smirked, petting her shoulder. He tilted his at her as she shook hers to get grass out of her brown hair.

"May, I know you probably don't want me to ask but… was your battle with Paul ok?"

May sighed lightly as she stretched out and flopped back onto her back.

"…No, not really." She muttered as she looked at him tiredly.

"How?"

"I don't really want to say… but he was just so insulting the whole way through. And… at the end when I gave him his badge he said if my dad was here he'd be totally disappointed with me and I should feel ashamed for taking his place."

"I swear to Arceus…" Ash growled rolling his eyes "Well… don't listen to him."

May looked at him with a sad look in her eyes "Ash, I really don't think I can keep going on with this…"

"Don't say that."

"I mean it! I don't want to be the gym leader! I never did!"

"I know, May but you can't give up. That means Paul wins!"

May sighed and put her head on her knees. Ash sat behind her and started massaging her shoulders. May lifted her head back up and let out a small huff, making Ash smirk.

"You have to stop worrying so much. You're doing fine! Besides, I'm here to help." He smiled as he worked on her shoulders, which were both very stiff.

"But… Ash don't you want to see the rest of Hoenn? I feel like I'm taking up a lot of your time…"

"No, its fine, May I promise. I've told you a hundred times, I'm not in a rush!"

"But you will want to go eventually…"

"When you feel totally confident about your skill as a trainer."

"But that could take forever!"

"So?" Ash smiled before gently kissing the back of her neck "I've loved spending time with you, May. Maybe I don't want to leave."

"You don't?"

"Nope." Ash smiled as he sat next to her, their shoulders touching. He put his arm around her to pull her in closer. May sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"May… can I tell you something?" He said gently into her ear.

"What's that?"

"I love you."

May's heart gave a flutter and her cheeks turned a light pink. She lent closer to Ash and nuzzled his neck.

"I love you too." She whispered into his ear before giving him a kiss on his cheek. Ash smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the lips.

The pair stayed at the park for a while afterwards, just holding onto each other, whispering loving things into each other's ear.

When Ash pulled away finally, he noticed it was now fairly late in the afternoon. The sky was just starting to turn pink and the air was cooler.

"I think we should head back." He said, patting May's cheek gently as she seemed to almost fall asleep again.

"Ok… I think Max is getting suspicious anyway." May smirked, making Ash laugh slightly. The two held hands as they headed back to the gym.

**I know its short and kinda sucky but I didn't know really what to write and like I said I am going to be busy. Well, I'll get started on chapter 8 when I can. Remember to R&R!**


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